Tracking Up-Stream 71

necessary to say that on the edge of the delta of an immense
fresh-water system like the Mackenzie the water would be
fresh and not salt. He expresses his disappointment at not
reaching the sea, but the narrative makes it abundantly
clear that he was satisfied that he had reached the Hyper-
borean Sea; possibly he was thinking of an extensive view
of the ocean to satisfy his people of the magnitude of such a
body of water. His expectations regarding the outlet of this
great river had been somewhat different. He had arrived
nowhere, certainly not on an ocean open to trade, judging
from the amount of ice visible in midsummer. He had
expected to come out in Russian territory, or on a sea-board
more agreeable than this frozen waste, and he was dis-
appointed, but that he knew perfectly well that he had
reached the sea no one reading his journals and letters
can doubt.

His men reported large fish in the offing which they had
at first thought to be pieces of ice. “I immediately per-
ceived that they were whales, and having ordered the canoe
to be prepared we embarked in pursuit of them. It was
indeed a very wild and unreflecting enterprise, and it was
a very fortunate circumstance that we failed in our attempt
to overtake them.”

A fog came up and was really responsible for their safety,
as it prevented them from continuing the pursuit in their
frail birch canoe. The guide told them that the Eskimo
subsisted on these fish which were frequently thirty feet in
length. “The part of them which appeared above water was
altogether white, and they were much larger than the
largest porpoise.”

When the fog dispersed at midday Mackenzie daringly

1 The beluga, or white whale, a large porpoise that is found in the

Arctic in great numbers.
F